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The Commission for Youth of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB) has held a preparatory and orientation programme for youth coordinators and ministers from the country's eight dioceses for the worldwide Synod of Bishops on young people to be held next year at the Vatican.  The daylong programme on July 14 at the CBCP center in Dhaka focused on exchanging information, views and a plan of action leading up to the 2018 synod, organizers said. 

Pope Francis has convoked the 15th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in the ‎Vatican in October 2018, on the theme, “Youth, Faith, and Vocational Discernment”. ‎

"The Vatican has offered us some guidelines and a questionnaire on faith, vocation and pastoral works which are core issues of the upcoming synod, so we have called all diocesan youth coordinators and ministers to share the information and set the next course of action," Holy Cross Brother Uzzal Placid Pereira, the commission secretary, told UCANEWS. Each diocese will arrange seminars and symposiums to assess life and challenges youth face today, get necessary data and submit a report to the commission, Brother Pereira said.  "We organize programmes for young people at parish, diocese and national level, because young people are a priority for the church. We hope this synod will have a big impact on young people as they would realize more how much the Church cares for them," he said.  "We eagerly expect that youth representatives would accompany a bishop to the synod and get the opportunity to have their say," Br. Pereira added.

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(Vatican Radio) The first hearing by the Vatican tribunal of a case against two former officials of the 'Bambino Gesù' children’s hospital took place on Tuesday. The hospital, Europe’s largest paediatric research centre, is owned by the Vatican and often referred to as ‘the Pope’s hospital’.

Former president of the 'Bambino Gesù' foundation, Giuseppe Profiti and former treasurer, Massimo Spina, are charged with illicitly using money to renovate an apartment belonging to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the former Vatican secretary of state. They stand accused of paying over 422.000 euros of hospital funds to Gianantonio Bandera, owner of the Castelli Re construction company.

During the morning hearing, tribunal president Paolo Papanti-Pellettier rejected the defence lawyers’ claims that the Vatican has no jurisdiction over activities related to the hospital, which is located on Italian territory. He also rejected a request for journalists to be moved out of the courtroom.

The tribunal heard a further objection by Massimo Spina’s lawyer that his client did not have any authority to transfer funds from the hospital foundation, but only to carry out orders from his superiors. In this context, the lawyer quoted a letter from Cardinal Bertone, but did not disclose the contents of the message.

The session closed with a decision for the next hearings to be held on September 7th, 8th and 9th. 

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Vatican City, Jul 18, 2017 / 10:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A commission of Catholic and Orthodox leaders tasked with examining the wartime record of Bl. Aloysius Stepinac concluded their final session last week, agreeing to disagree about the Croatian cardinal’s cause for canonization.

The Secretariat of the Holy See prepared a joint statement, adopted by both sides, at the conclusion of the commission’s sixth and final round of meetings at the Vatican July 12-13.

The document states that the opinions of either side remain unchanged, but also acknowledges that ultimately the competency for approval of the cardinal’s cause falls under Pope Francis.

“It has come to the conclusion that various events, speeches, writings, silences, and views are still subject to different interpretations. In the case of Cardinal Stepinac, the interpretations that were predominantly given by Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs remain divergent,” it states.

It included their thanks to Pope Francis for establishing the commission, which he did in May 2016 after receiving a letter from the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Irinej, who stated his opposition to the cardinal's canonization.

They also expressed their gratitude for the atmosphere of the discussions which allowed “full freedom of expression.”

“From the commencement of the commission's work, the members were aware that the process of canonization of Cardinal Stepinac was in the exclusive competence of the Pope. They also admit that each Church has its own criteria for the canonization process,” it continued.

The Secretariat of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, accepted the outcome of the commission, which was led by Fr. Bernard Ardura, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences.

With the conclusion of the commission, the path to the canonization of Cardinal Stepinac is fully open. The proper requisites in place, it is in the hands of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and then will go to Pope Francis for approval. It is believed the announcement of his canonization could take place soon.

Cardinal Stepinac, who is hailed as a hero in Croatia, has been a target of decades-long communist smears and disinformation. Despite this, he was beatified as a martyr by Pope St. John Paul II in October 1998.

Many in the Serbian Orthodox community are deeply skeptical of the cardinal's wartime record. Though one researcher of the period says the facts counter false claims about the beatified cardinal's record.

“What you have is a false narrative created by Soviet agents,” Prof. Ronald J. Rychlak told CNA/EWTN News in 2016.

Cardinal Stepinac was the Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his death in 1960 at the age of 61. In Yugoslavia during the Second World War, the pro-Nazi Ustashe movement came to power under leader Ante Pavelic after the Axis occupied the country.

“Stepinac's sermons against the Ustashe were so strong. They prohibited them from being published, because they were so strong against the Ustashe,” Rychlak said. Instead, his words were secretly printed and circulated and occasionally broadcast over the radio.

He also severely condemned the Ustashe’s destruction of Zagreb’s main synagogue in 1941 and in an October 1943 homily, the archbishop condemned notions of racial superiority.

In 1946, Stepinac was put on trial for allegedly collaborating with the Ustashe’s crimes. The trial drew critical coverage from Western media like Time and Newsweek and protests from those who saw it as a show trial.

Archbishop Stepinac was denied effective representation and only met with his attorney for an hour before the trial. The government’s witnesses were told what to say, and the archbishop was not allowed to cross-examine them.

In 1953, Pope Pius XII made him a cardinal, although he was never allowed travel to the Holy See to be officially elevated. He died in 1960 of an alleged blood disorder, which was said to have been caused by the conditions he endured in jail. Recent tests of his remains by Vatican investigators show evidence he was also poisoned.

In June 2011 Pope Benedict XVI praised Cardinal Stepinac as a courageous defender of those oppressed by the Ustashe, including Serbs, Jews and gypsies.

He said the cardinal stood against “the dictatorship of communism, where he again fought for the faith, for the presence of God in the world, the true humanity that is dependent on the presence of God.”

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IMAGE: CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Two former top Vatican hospital officials appeared before a Vatican court for a pretrial hearing on allegations of embezzlement.

Giuseppe Profiti, who was president of Bambino Gesu hospital from 2008 to 2015, and Massimo Spina, the former treasurer, appeared with their lawyers before Vatican magistrates July 18 in a nearly two-hour preliminary hearing, led by the presiding Vatican judge, Paolo Papanti-Pelletier.

A court clerk read the charges, which the Vatican had made public July 13: Profiti, 55, and Spina, 57, were accused of an illicit appropriation and use of funds belonging to the Bambino Gesu Foundation to pay Gianantonio Bandera, an Italian contractor, to refurbish an apartment belonging to Vatican City State. The apartment was used as the residence of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, former Vatican secretary of state.

The indictment said Profiti and Spina extracted more than 420,000 euros for "completely non-institutional ends" by using the money to refurbish Vatican property in order "to benefit Gianantonio Bandera's company." It said the alleged crime was committed in Vatican City State and spanned from November 2013 to May 28, 2014 -- the time period that the contractor's seven invoices were dated and paid for, according to news reports.

Lawyers for the defendants made their pretrial motions, beginning with Antonello Blasi, Profiti's attorney.

He asked that Vatican-accredited journalists not be present in the courtroom to "avoid eventual disturbances," according to the pool report. Journalists had made "signs of approval and disapproval" during other Vatican trials, Blasi said, and he asked the court to make a livestream of the trial available to reporters in another room.

Alfredo Ottaviani, Spina's lawyer, agreed, suggesting that he and his client felt "a bit pressured" with reporters looking on from behind.

The Vatican prosecutor, Gian Piero Milano, dismissed the motion, saying an exception would only be made in extreme cases regarding "morals or public order." In a case like this one, he said according to the pool report, having journalists be present was "necessary" and in the "public interest."

The defense lawyers then challenged the Vatican tribunal's jurisdiction, saying that even though the hospital foundation has extraterritorial status as Vatican property, its address is in Italy, not inside Vatican City State proper. They also said the presumed crime occurred in the United Kingdom where the payments ended up, destined for an Italian contractor. Ottaviani also said that while the foundation is a Vatican entity, the presumed crime was attributed to subjects or persons "outside the Vatican."

Vatican co-prosecutor Roberto Zannotti dismissed the arguments and reaffirmed that newly expanded Vatican laws approved of in 2013 very clearly define who is considered a Vatican "public official" and that there was "not the slightest doubt" that the alleged crime occurred while Profiti and Spina were acting as public officials, so Vatican laws applied to them.

Zannotti added that the funds were extracted from the Vatican's procurement agency, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See; the allegation of misappropriation centers on from where the funds are taken -- a Vatican account -- and not where those funds eventually ended up, the Vatican prosecutor said.

After the preliminary hearing, prosecutors opened the floor to other arguments presented by the defense lawyers.

Among the arguments, Blasi requested the court hear witnesses all the same day in order to avoid "contamination," implying public knowledge of a witness's testimony might affect other witnesses' accounts later.

Ottaviani argued that his client, even though he was treasurer of the foundation, had no power or authority to transfer assets, adding that a letter written by Cardinal Bertone had been submitted to the court to prove Spina's lack of authority. The lawyer then said if the letter were not enough proof, he would like to call the cardinal as a witness.

The presiding judge, Papanti-Pelletier, said the court would make its decision on the requests at a later date and set Sept. 7-9 for a new round of hearings.

If found guilty, Profiti and Spina can face between three and five years in prison and fines starting at 5,000 euros.

According to letters released by investigative news reports, Profiti wrote Cardinal Bertone in late 2013, allegedly offering to pay for remodeling his residence using the foundation money in exchange for being able to use the top floor of the residence for work-related gatherings.

In a letter of reply the next day, the cardinal allegedly accepted the proposal, adding that he would make sure the costs were taken care of by a "third party" so that the foundation would not have to pay. However, the cardinal later said he paid the Vatican, which owns the apartment, 300,000 euros with his own money to cover the costs and had been unaware the foundation had already paid the contractor.

Mariella Enoc, current hospital president, told reporters in late 2015, "Cardinal Bertone never directly received money (from the hospital's foundation), but recognized that we suffered a loss and, therefore, assisted us with a donation of 150,000 euros."

Giuseppe Dalla Torre, president of the tribunal of Vatican City State, was not part of the trial proceedings because he is a member of the Bambino Gesu hospital's board of directors.

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By Rhina Guidos

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Denouncing the "demonization of migrants," hateful rhetoric, the militarization of the border and a system that divides families, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, called on Catholics to heed the church's teachings to welcome the migrant.

In a July 18 pastoral letter "Sorrow and Mourning Flee Away," on migration and addressed to the "People of God in the Diocese of El Paso," Bishop Seitz, who serves a border community near Mexico, said the country's security cannot be used as a "pretext to build walls and shut the door to migrants and refugees."

"God did not create a world lacking room for all at the banquet of life," he wrote.

He said that while some might question his reflections, "I am not substituting politics for the teaching of the church," but as a pastor, his "duty is to the Gospel of Jesus Christ," he wrote. And the Gospel in the Old Testament is clear, he said: "You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you."

Bishop Seitz also criticized a system that "permits some to detain human beings for profit," while eroding the country's "historic commitment to the refugee and asylum seeker."

In the letter, he shared personal anecdotes. One involves a teenager named Aura he met at a sister parish in Honduras who later decided to make the trip north to escape extreme poverty and violence. She was caught by immigration authorities and ended up in a detention center in El Paso but not before experiencing "serious physical and psychological wounds." 

She left Honduras for the U.S. because she had been enslaved by a gang and then ended up being treated like a criminal as she sought refuge in the U.S., the bishop wrote. He also wrote about a devoted Texas parishioner named Rosa, who in addition to long hours volunteering, works long hours caring for people with disabilities as well as cleaning houses to raise her family alone after her husband was deported.

"Aura is your neighbor! Aura is your sister!" Bishop Seitz wrote, and when it comes to Rosa, he asked: "Who can deny that our community would be diminished without the faith, hard work and contributions of Rosa and her family?"

He said moments of encounter with such migrant brothers and sisters can provide opportunities for conversion but he lamented that instead, people keep going about their old ways of seeing the world, with indifference, including an indifference toward God.

"This growing indifference toward God seems to exist side by side with a growing coldness toward the poor and suffering, as if they did not exist," he wrote.

Bishop Seitz said that even though the immigration system is broken and has not been fixed in large part because "elected leaders have not yet mustered the moral courage to enact permanent, comprehensive immigration reform," migrants should not be the ones paying the price.

"Still, migrants are treated, as Pope Francis says, as 'pawns on the chessboard of humanity.' Their labor and talents are exploited but they are denied the protections of the law and are scapegoated for our social and economic ills," he wrote.

He praised the work of border communities in welcoming the stranger, and says places such as his diocese, are filled with "heroic individuals, families, pastors, religious, parishes and institutions that spend themselves in service to migrants and refugees" feeling conflict, hunger and persecution. They also advocate for "just laws and against the militarization of our border," he wrote.

As the pastor of a border community, he said, he asks God to help him console, denounce injustice and announce redemption.

"I am pastor of a diocese divided by walls and checkpoints that separate individuals from loved ones. I am bishop of a flock frightened by the flashing lights of police cars in the rearview mirror, who wonder if this family outing or that drive home from work will be the last," he wrote. "I am (a) spiritual father to thousands of Border Patrol and ICE agents, who put their lives on the line to stem the flow of weapons and drugs and those who carry them.

"Many agents are troubled in conscience by divisive political rhetoric and new edicts coming from Washington, D.C.," Bishop Seitz added. "I am a citizen of a community where children worry whether mom or dad will be there when they return from school."

Migrants, he wrote, are not just seeking a better life, "but life itself."

He asked for compassion and solidarity with migrants and says the church "must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice."

To migrant brothers and sisters, he said: "We stand with you!"

"As your bishop, I pledge my commitment to stand with you in this time of anxiety and fear. I promise to hear you, celebrate with you, break bread with you, pray with you and weep with you," he wrote. "You possess a dignity that no earthly law or court can take away. Your families enrich our community and strengthen our parishes. Your perseverance, dedication and enthusiasm for a better future renew our hope."

Bishop Seitz announced he is establishing the Sonador Fund to offer financial assistance to children of migrant families so they can attend Catholic schools in the El Paso Diocese.

The Catholic Church, he wrote, considers itself a mother to all and therefore no human being can be illegal in her eyes, he wrote. He encouraged parishes to become places of prayer, study and dialogue on the issue, "where Catholics can get involved in the work of building a more humane border through education and advocacy."

"We must continue to denounce the evil of family separation, the militarization of our border communities, for-profit immigrant detention, the mistreatment of asylum seekers and the disparagement of our Muslim brothers and sisters," he said.

He encouraged others to learn from the work and culture of border communities.

"Our border is beautiful, rich in history and culture, faith and natural wonder. This is a place where people of many cultures, languages and nationalities coexist and thrive," Bishop Seitz said. 

"I invite young people, volunteers, attorneys and other professionals to spend time with us in service opportunities available through our many church and community organizations," he concluded. "The voice of border communities must be taken into consideration in the shaping of border enforcement policies and in debates on immigration reform. Let us reject a mindset of hostility and work together in generous cooperation for the common good."

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Follow Guidos on Twitter: @CNS_Rhina.

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Copyright © 2017 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. www.catholicnews.com. All rights reserved. Republishing or redistributing of CNS content, including by framing or similar means without prior permission, is prohibited. You may link to stories on our public site. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To request permission for republishing or redistributing of CNS content, please contact permissions at cns@catholicnews.com.

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